A Beautiful Book
by ICan'tMakeMe
Summary: As a High School English teacher, Arizona has always looked up to Callie as a master of literature in its purest form; so what happens when she meets the Latina at a book signing and leaves her utterly speechless. (Rated T for later chapters) Callie/Arizona, Mark/Addison, Henry/Teddy (All characters belong to Shonda Rhimes. Shondaland is amazing.)
1. Chapter 1

Pausing as yet another tardy student slipped through the door to her classroom; Arizona decided it was time for a little pep talk. Having been at the school for nearly ten years she had worked up a reputation envied by many of her fellow staff. She was firm yet fair, and considered a friend by each of her students at the close of their final year, which for Arizona served only to reinforce how fulfilling she found her work. Teaching placed her in a position to be able to influence the lives of her students; a position from which she was able to educate, and most importantly inspire them to achieve things they never dreamed of. This appreciation alone would have been enough for Arizona, but coupled with the amazing performance of all of her students throughout her career as an English teacher; she was proud to consider herself someone who made a quantifiable difference to those whose lives lay ahead of them, ready to be harnessed with great power to change the world.

Turning back to her class, Arizona waited for them to settle before explaining to them (more explicitly this time) exactly what she expected from them. She wasn't someone who tolerated disrespect from her students, and this class was no different.

"Now I know we went through introductions last week, but I would like to start over, because clearly my leniency in the strict reinforcements of the college rules was gravely misunderstood by some of you as an opportunity to use this class as a free zone for misbehavior and disrespect. Let me tell you, this is not so. We all know the college comes down hard on many different and occasionally unnecessary issues, and in this class I was willing to let some things like messy hair or mismatched socks slide. However, this past week I feel that the freedom and privileges I gave you as Year Twelves has been misused in some incredibly surprising and completely unacceptable ways. There will be No more late attendance; nor will there be any completion of non – English related work during my lessons."

To emphasise this point Arizona walked to the desk of a young George O'Malley and pulled out the note she had seen him slip under his exercise book moments before; reading aloud a rather poorly composed love note to a soon hysterical class. As the laughter died down, Arizona continued her speech, happy that while she reminded them of her power as a teacher, her students could still see her sense of humour.

"I was happy at the start of this year to allow you to choose your own seating arrangements, but as I can't see that becoming more conducive to productive study than it is now, I will be setting you all an assigned seat at the commencement of tomorrow's class."

Met by multiple groans of displeasure from in front of her, Arizona smiled; content in the knowledge that this class wouldn't be giving her more trouble any time soon. Turning back to the board, she continued her lesson on the influence of Brechtian theatre on von Donnersmarck's _The Lives of Others_, looking forward to a more receptive class than she had dealt with during the previous week.

/

"Mrs. Robbins!"

Arizona paused as she exited the classroom and waited for a struggling Lexie Grey to pack her books and approach her with a question she had clearly been holding in all period.

"I wanted to ask you about our Individual Study. I know you said that it wasn't something we had to worry about for another couple of weeks but I was thinking of looking at one of Torres' works and following her themes of 'struggling to form a sense of identity' and 'hopelessness' into speeches made by the parents of those who have lost their teenage children to suicide." Lexie finished her rambling with a sharp intake of breath as she realised that her words had drowned out her ability to take in any oxygen.

"Firstly, Alexandra, I would much prefer you call me 'Miss Robbins;' I feel too depressingly old otherwise," giving Lexie a playful wink to let her know she was kidding, Arizona continued; "and secondly, while it sounds like you have an extremely well thought out plan here, the reason I wanted you to wait before starting was so that I could introduce you to the authors we will be studying this year to make sure there isn't any overlap. I have already decided that we will be studying Tennessee Williams' _Glass Menagerie _and Torres' _Alliance_ as our pair this year, so unfortunately, while your idea sounds spectacular, you're going to have to find a different author. I'm very impressed that you've taken such an interest in my subject though, and I look forward to hearing what you come up with."

Lexie almost visibly deflated when she realised she wouldn't be able to study her dream pair, but after receiving that sly wink from her most adored teacher she couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she thanked Arizona for her time and scuttled off to her next lesson.

/

Callie sat at her desk, hands planted firmly over her ears as her manager and best friend Mark Sloan screamed bloody murder into his earpiece, glancing at Callie every now and then to make sure she knew he was coping with the situation. As Mark paced around the room, Callie could hear his voice rise in triumph, punctuating the end of his last successful phone call by ripping off his ear piece and throwing it onto the rumpled sheets of Callie's unmade bed.

"Calliope. Iphigenia. Torres."

Callie frowned at him as he spoke, but soon broke out into a sheepish grin, knowing full well that the phone calls Mark had just taken all related to the less than presentable state of her bed.

"You can't keep doing this, Cals. It just hurts them, and ultimately, you, when I have to clean up the mess they make when you don't call the next day. I'm all for the 'love 'em and leave 'em' approach you've got going on, but this can't keep happening. As your manager I know I've made it clear that coming out is a very bad idea, but if you keep doing what you're doing there's going to be a picture, or someone will talk; a rumour starts and you're dead."

He sighed; reluctantly indulging his curiosity as Callie's friend as to how she could possibly have pulled this one off without getting the press involved.

"As your friend and fellow skirt chaser, though; score on that one. Smokin'! How the hell did you get her to come home with you? In fact, how did you even find her? You were signing the paperbacks of old, balding men ALL day!"


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: None of these characters belong to me; all credit goes to Shonda for that. **_

_**Also, sorry for the super long time between updates, no excuses but I've been really busy with work and the like. Reviews are very welcome :)  
**_

* * *

Callie was used to having to hide who she was. Growing up in a devoutly Catholic home was enough training for the sorts of lies she had to tell, and the lengths to which he had to go to make sure that no one found her out; as she knew full well that a revelation like her being gay would end her career in a devastating and most likely permanent way. That isn't to say she wasn't loved; she was. She had received countless awards, making _Torres _into the household name her father had only dreamed he could achieve with his own business. But she didn't write for the young, accepting and tolerant generation following her own; she wrote from her heart and created literature so powerful it could bring grown men to tears. She didn't write for the feint hearted.

She loved her work, and when it came to relationships she was completely comfortable to screw around, pack up and leave if that's what it took to get her through. When it came to work and play, her passion for writing always trumped enjoying herself in the bedroom.

/

"MARKY!" She yelled, striding towards her best friend across the beautifully polished floors in the hall for the awards night he had made her attend, despite countless protests. "You promised you would be here an hour ago, where have you bee-"

"Callie," he hissed, cutting her sentence short by grasping her arm and subtly dragging her away from the watchful eyes of the ever present press corps. "We need to move. I didn't want to worry you, but I heard a rumour about the special guest for tonight a couple of weeks back, and Henry just confirmed. We're leaving before you make a scene. You have a couple of incredibly important readings over in Seattle that I don't want to have to reschedule."

Callie was having trouble processing what Mark was saying, but when she felt herself being dragged out of the presentation hall she saw a flash of jet black hair as someone she knew all too well was whisked into the hall met by raucous applause. She was here.

/

Walking into the classroom, Arizona silenced her class by listing the seating arrangements as promised the day before, firing off pairs of names amid groans of displeasure. "Lexie and Derek, April and George, Meredith and Jackson, Cristina and Izzie, and Alex and Lucy; these are your pairs for the rest of the term. I don't care how you organise yourselves, but from now on the benches seat two only, and you are to stay in your pairs at all times during my lessons. Go." After a considerable amount of shuffling she glared pointedly at the Grey twins before saying "Nice try. You two are Fraternal, not identical. You don't get to sit with your boyfriends, switch now." noting all four students blush, she added "and by the way, the fronts of the desks are quite high. I _can _actually see you all holding hands. It's very ninth-grade of you. Izzie and George, you two are no exception. I'm quite surprised at how many of you seem to have significant others in here, and if I find out you chose this class to ensure you got some quality bonding time with your respective McDreamy or McEyes over here, rather than for studying Advanced Literature, I will be suggesting to Webber that you be relocated. This is an advanced class for a reason; don't let me find out that my excitement at having such a large group this year was misplaced."

Secretly Arizona loved getting into the little details of her students' lives. She loved feeling like a friend to her students (albeit a friend they respected, above anything else), because not only did it make her classes far more enjoyable, it made the quality of their work much higher. She had found that when her students _wanted _to spend time in order to impress her with their work, they were much more willing to put in the time and effort it actually took to perform at the standard she set. And she was a total gossip. There was that, too. She kept everything to herself, but she loved knowing the little things about her students. Like who was dating who, and whose boyfriend kissed who else's girlfriend's international exchange student.

"Miss Robbins," Karev called out across the room, "why does the board say _'orientation'_?"

"Oh!" Arizona spun quickly to the board and then back to her students, flashing them her signature dimpled grin before launching into the day's lesson plan.

"We've been studying our single text for a couple of lessons, and while we have an incredibly hectic year, I scheduled today to be a bit of a break in what I know must be a very stressful week. Now that we're a little bit more comfortable around each other, I want us to go around the class and list a few things about us. While I know it sounds juvenile, I'm not going to be asking about your pets and your favourite colour, we're diving into the deep end here. I want you all to answer me this: scariest experience, favourite book or author and your happiest moment, or, instead, the animal in your choice of patronus."

"Patronus," asked Avery, "what's that?"

The looks of utter horror and disgrace written on each of her students' faces at Avery's expense made Arizona want to laugh, but Avery quickly broke out into a very cheeky grin, winking at Arizona, saying "I'm kidding, but you should see yourselves. Your faces are priceless."

"A Patronus," Arizona clarified, "for whomever may be too disgraced to admit they have not read Harry Potter; is a protective animal, born of your innermost positive experience and warmth. It says more about you than I suspect you would appreciate. Just additionally, though, if anyone is really too uncomfortable about answering any of these just skip it, no questions asked. Do we have any volunteers to share first? No? Okay Jackson, since you spoke up before, you can go."

Avery sighed, before starting up with: "Scariest experience? Reading the email Headmaster Webber accidentally sent me, rather than my mother, detailing what he wanted to do on their date that night. Definitely." Pausing to let the giggles of his classmates pass, he continued. "Um, favourite book is currently _The Other Hand_ by Chris Cleave, and happiest moment would by far be scoring the winning three-pointer for our basketball team this summer while we had the scouts watching to pick players up for next year's under 19s."

"Thank you Jackson," Arizona chirped, "April, go."

"Scariest Experience. I was visiting my Dad in at Seattle Grace Mercy West that day the shooter came and killed all those people," the class erupted in exclamations of pity and sadness as April tried her best to remain composed for the rest of her story, "and my best friend. Reed. She was only- I mean- she was so small- she. It was a horrible day. Favourite author is Jane Austen, and I would want something like a stag for a patronus, but I honestly think it would be a puppy. I- I don't think. You know, before I speak, so yeah, probably a puppy."

Arizona cut in quietly, "April, I speak for all of us when I say that we are honoured that you trusted us with that story. I hope you all have taken it for granted that the things said in this room are not to be shared. Thank you. Next?"

After each of the rest of her students had volunteered their own responses, Arizona asked: "is that it? Are we all- hang on. Alex? Do you wan-"

Alex cut the end of her question short, pointedly responding: "Favourite book is _Alliance_ by Callie Torres, and my patronus is a lion. Not because that's what everyone says; but because I protect my family."

"Well Alex," Arizona said gently, "thank you for sharing, and you will be pleased to know that we'll be studying _Alliance _this year as one of the texts in our pair. I'm a little surprised you're familiar with such an advanced text, but the fact that you've not only read and understood it, but appreciate it as your favourite is very impressive."

"Do we get to hear yours, Miss?" Lexie asked, surprising Arizona with her boldness. She didn't have responses prepared, but she was happy to share something personal with the class given how giving they had all been about their own lives. She had done this exercise countless times previously, and not once had she ever seen such honesty and willingness to participate as she had witnessed with this group of students. She could feel something truly special about this class. They were quickly becoming her most well liked group despite their initial cheekiness at the start of term.

"Scariest experience. Well, maybe scariest and saddest. It's sort of in two parts. The first, and scariest, would be watching our very own Professor Altman and my twin brother Timothy Robbins board a plane to Iraq where they would both serve their first tours of duty. The second, and saddest, was watching as Tedd- sorry- Professor Altman, stepped off the plane with five other uniformed soldiers, carrying Timmy's flag-covered coffin towards us on the tarmac. My favourite author is definitely Callie Torres; her book _Alliance_" she glanced at Alex as she spoke "is also my favourite book. And finally, my happiest memory would probably be the look on my brother's face as he told me about the person he was going to marry. He told me he was in love, but it was the look on his face that made me believe. I never want to forget how happy he was that day."


	3. Chapter 3

_**AN: None of these characters belong to me; all credit goes to Shonda for that. **_

_**Sorry it's taken so long to update (and yes, I realise I stated the last chapter like this, too), I didn't really like the last chapter, so it's taken me a while to get going again.  
**_

_**Reviews, again, are Very welcome :)**_

_**Oh, also, thank you to anyone who is still reading, I'm feeling utterly overwhelmed by the numbers of people who have read and like it. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy :3**_

* * *

"Owen, have you seen Teds?" Arizona asked as she walked into the overcrowded staffroom.

Owen was about to reply when Arizona felt a pair of hands clamp down on her shoulders and quickly scoot down to tickle her sides.

"I think that should answer your question" Owen chuckled, before walking to join Addison at a table across the room.

"Why does he keep walking away whenever I'm around?" Teddy asked, "I feel like I've done something to offend him, but I cannot think of a single thing!"

Teddy was unfortunately completely oblivious to the feelings Owen had been harbouring for her since she first appeared at St. Michael's College six years ago, but Arizona wasn't going to try and interfere. After everything that had happened it would just be cruel to both her and Teddy; Tim's death was still very fresh, despite having occurred so long ago.

"I did the 'get-to-know-you' exercise with my class today," Arizona said to stop Teddy's ranting, "and I have to say; they look like they're going to be an incredible class."

"But you have, like, Alex Karev and Cristina Yang in that class don't you? Aren't they meant to be all impossible to control?"

"Well that's what I thought when I first met them, but the whole class seems to be bonding really well. Actually; one of the Grey twins asked me to answer my own questions this time. I haven't had anyone in my classes ask me to join in, in quite a few years now."

"Wait, what did you say?"

"I actually ended up telling them about watching you and Timmy get on that plane. I wasn't expecting to be asked, and given how much they trusted each other with the things they said, I wasn't going to give them a cheap answer. Scariest and saddest was watching you leave, and then come back. That's what I said."

Arizona could see the faraway look in Teddy's eyes as she remembered what it was like to carry Tim's coffin toward his distraught family, wishing she could be standing there too; mourning the loss of someone so important to all of them.

"But, you know, I said my happiest memory was of Tim's face when he told me he was getting married. When he told me he was in love with you."

Teddy smiled at her best friend's words, the memory of Tim's love overcoming the sorrow of his death.

"He was quite the romantic, wasn't he," Teddy said to herself, more as a statement than a question.

"But wait, you told your class we were going to get married? I don't need the pity, Arizona! I-"

"Teddy, no! I told them about how happy he was. I didn't tell them he was happy because of you. I'm not that dumb. Besides," Arizona cheekily added, "if I had told them my brother was your fiancée they would have asked questions about the two of you that I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted me to recount."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I don't think I could have helped myself, so I'm glad I left you out of that little bit of the story," Arizona said, winking at Teddy in the process.

"So apparently Callie Torres is coming to town," Teddy said, deciding that a change of topic was in order.

"Yeah, I know, I'm-"

"Surprise, surprise,"

"Shut up, Teddy, honestly, we're studying _Alliance _this year, so I'm taking my class to see one of her book readings."

"So you're not going because you think she's hot?"

"Well...okay, maybe a little bit because of that too," Arizona winked.

/

"Callie. Words. Please. It's been hours. I don't know how much more if this I can take."

"Mark, she just turned up! After all this time, she just turns up?! I tried contacting her for years! Years, Mark! I got nothing! And now? Now she's just here? Being all fabulous and special guest-y at a ceremony where she would KNOW I was getting an award! Why?! Ugh!"

"Okay, okay, okay. Calm down. The only way you're going to find out why she's here is if you talk to her. Maybe you could answer the next time she rings instead of hanging up again? She's been trying all night, she clearly wants to talk to you."

"You know what, fine. Fine! But if she's going to give me some high and mighty biblical lecture, I'm hanging up."

"Well, fair enough, but she might have something important she wants to say. It might be a good idea to hear her out."

As if on cue, Callie's phone started to vibrate across the top of her desk, signalling yet another call from the person in question.

"Hello?" Callie answered, as if she hadn't been repeatedly ignoring each of the previous calls.

"Hi. Callie. Thank God, I was wondering when Mark was going to be able to talk you down. It took him longer than I was expecting. Anyway, why did you leave? I came to talk to you."

"Why, Aria? Why now? Why not three years ago? You know, when I needed you. I don't need you anymore, and I sure as hell don't want you."

Callie heard her sister sigh through the phone. This wasn't the way she had been hoping the conversation would go, but if they couldn't confront the fact that Aria had dropped all contact since Callie came out to the family, they weren't going to get anywhere.

"Callie, I'm so, so sorry. I know this means nothing to you, and it shouldn't, but I'm getting married. I feel so bad about everything I've done, but I couldn't just get married and not tell you. I couldn't let myself think about you hearing through the press. I- I just couldn't. I want you back in my life. Well, I mean, I never wanted you to be out of it in the first place, but I miss you."

"You're sorry?" Callie asked, sadly, "You're sorry. That's great. I hope you and..."

"Fitz"

"Wait, Fitz? Really?" Callie laughed, almost convincing herself to persevere with the conversation, before saying "Well I hope you have a lovely wedding," and hanging up.

/

"Okay, you lot," Arizona said to her class before taking them into the book reading, "no talking or laughing or chewing gum or doing anything that makes me look bad in front of one of the most famous authors this century. Are we understood?"

For years Arizona had been absolutely captivated by Callie Torres' writing, but not once had she ever had an opportunity to actually attend one of her readings. Only now, sitting with her senior class, listening to her literary idol read from her newest novel, did Arizona realise how much she had missed out on. Of course she had known that the author was beautiful, but having never seen her in person before, she had not recognised how inadequate the thumbnail author profile photographs were at capturing the magnificence of this woman. Having caught herself dreaming off yet again, she hoped beyond hope that she hadn't been too obvious as to have let any of her students see how much the stunning author was affecting her. She wondered silently whether she could have let herself have more fun if she hadn't brought along her senior class, snickering at the thought.

As Karev looked over once again at his professor chuckling quietly to herself, he couldn't help but wonder what on earth about this heartfelt and gut-wrenching story she was finding so amusing.

/

At the end of the reading Arizona gave her class a short task to complete for the following day's class on what they heard, but before sending them home decided that they should wait to get their copies of Torres' new book signed by the author. It was something sentimental that could mean a great deal to the students if they let themselves engage enough with the work. Or, at least, that's the excuse she gave them for wanting to wait around to catch a glimpse, or maybe even talk to, the great beauty she hadn't been able to get off her mind all night.

/

"Hi, would you like me to sign that for you? Who can I make it out to?" Callie said as she was handed yet another regretfully heavy book to sign.

"Yes please, and to Arizona. Arizona Robbins," she heard in reply, "it's great to finally meet you; I've been a huge fan of your work for a number of years now. I actually brought my Advanced Literature class to your reading tonight. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to come and see the author of one of our core texts read some of her other work."

Looking up from her book, Callie actually took the time to see the person she was talking to. Her usual routine was to speak politely but remain unengaged when it came to book signings. The whole night took far too long otherwise. Something about the excitement behind those words had intrigued her, though, and when she hit the baby blue eyes of the woman standing in front of her, she felt as though an arrow had been shot through her heart. Taking in Arizona's broad smile, Callie found herself completely lost. This woman had rendered her utterly speechless; something she found extremely foreign, given that she worked with words in such an intimate way as an author.

Her usual routine when it came to meeting women at these book signings was to scribble down the address of her hotel below her signature, wink, and let the doorman know she was expecting a visitor when she got to her room; but she was hit with an overwhelming sense of loss at the idea of only spending one night with this woman. Instead, she just stared. Mildly slack jawed and absolutely frozen, she could do nothing but hope the stunning woman in front of her would say something before the moment became too awkward for everyone present.

In an attempt to bypass what was becoming a very strange interaction with the stunning author, Arizona continued her rambling introduction by saying: "We're studying _Alliance _this year, and I wasn't really expecting anyone in my class to be able to appreciate how incredible it is right away, but there are a few of them who really love your writing and have worked hard to understand the messages coming through. It's quite exciting for me, actually, to have a class who understands your work, because their ability to appreciate how incredible your writing is just goes to show how mature they are as a group."

"I – uh, I'm here for a couple of weeks for more signings and stuff, so maybe, you know, if you think they'd be interested I could swing by the school to answer questions or chat about _Alliance _or something." Callie could not begin to understand the unintelligent drivel that had just spilled out of her mouth. She was a multi award winning author for goodness sakes. "What I mean to say, is, uh- here, here's my number, and if you want, you can ring and book a time for me to come visit the school to talk to your class. I'll let my manager know it's something I'm happy to do so he doesn't throw it away. I usually don't do little things anymore, but it seems like your class is very keen."

Ending her well rehearsed signature with a flourish, she scrawled a number below it; surprising herself by recognising it not as her manager's, but as her own personal cell.

"Here you go; thanks for stopping by. I always appreciate it when there are fans of my work at these readings." Giving her signature mega-watt smile to the astounded blonde, she handed back the book and internally berated herself for turning into a girlish teenager in front of someone so embarrassingly.

Arizona picked up her freshly signed copy of _Woe To The Night_ and stepped back to let the rest of their class meet the thoroughly bemusing individual that was Callie Torres.


End file.
